


The Stars Are Conquered

by Inrainbowz



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst with a Happy Ending, Day 4 - Across the Stars, Long-Distance Relationship, Love, M/M, Naruto Sci-Fi Week 2020, Reunions, Science Fiction, like really long, the distance and the relationship, with a big L
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27879638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inrainbowz/pseuds/Inrainbowz
Summary: “I traded my ticket.”“You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t.”.It's three years apart, one to each corner of the quadrant, and Naruto might or might not have traded away their only shot at a reunion. That's without counting just how determined he can be though.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 20
Kudos: 114
Collections: Naruto Sci-fi Week!





	The Stars Are Conquered

**Author's Note:**

> Day 4 of Naruto Scifi Week 2020, Across the Stars. I actually recycled an idea I had for a short story and I'm kinda mad at myself that I can't wrap up that one but I could write this in like two days for this prompt. No originals, only fanfics lol.
> 
> But anyway, literally star-crossed and going the loooong distance. They are so extras... I like when they're too in love for their own good. I'm not sure this makes any sense though but well. Also it wasn't beta-read. Sorry. Enjoy!

It takes a few seconds for the image to stabilize, for the static to smooth out and for Sasuke’s head to form properly above the comm outlet, the hologram generator making a decent job at rendering the dips and turns of his face, though not its colors, nor its warmth. Naruto resists the urge to reach out, to try and touch – he knows from experience that it only makes it more painful. 

“Is it working? Can you hear me?”

There is a slight delay between the image and the sound, and between the message being sent and received. They are worlds away after all. It makes for sporadic, hashed out conversations, but it’s all they can get, neither having the funds to afford a quantic communicator or even just a five-minute call at the transmission center. 

It’s hard sometimes, to wrap their head around the distance that stretches between them, the parsecs pilling up, unfathomable. 

Nearly impossible to cross. 

“Yes, it’s working fine.” 

The quality is decent, but it's by no mean the best. Yet it doesn’t prevent Sasuke from picking up that something is wrong immediately, and Naruto curses himself for his transparency, for his utter inability to hide any of his emotions. He knows it’s something Sasuke likes about him, he who has such a hard time showing his feelings, but it doesn’t stop Naruto from wishing he could hide better sometimes. 

“What happened?” Sasuke asks, worried, before it morphs into suspicion immediately. “What did you do?” 

They know each other too well. 

“What? Nothing!” 

“Naruto...” 

“Okay, okay, just... please don’t be mad.” 

Sasuke frowns, probably readying himself to be mad already. 

“So there was an accident at the factory the other day...” 

“Are you alright?” 

Naruto can’t help but smile. Sasuke looks away, embarrassed by his worried outburst. Naruto is sure he is blushing. 

He misses him so much it makes it hard to breathe. 

“I’m fine, it wasn’t in my sector. The roof caved over the warehouse. Konohamaru took a nasty hit from a falling beam, he had to be taken to the hospital.” 

Which is saying a lot – most injuries can be dealt with on-site with the regenerative kit. But it doesn’t help with crushed limbs, and poor Konohamaru’s leg was barely attached to his body when they took him away. 

“Wait, isn’t he turning sixteen next year? What was he doing at the factory?” 

“Ah, they... they voted another relaxing on the labor law. The factories need to stay afloat, you know...” 

Naruto knows better than to say anymore, or even to infuse more than a hint of sarcasm into his tone. The police would be at his door in under an hour if he dared to criticize the reforms openly 

They only need to look at each other to communicate anyway. Sasuke clenches his jaw, outraged. He decided to pass the public exam and go to University partly so that he would have a shot at a decent job, but mostly because a state diploma is a requirement for any kind of public work and activism. And there is a lot Sasuke wishes to change. 

“Is that why you’re upset?” he asks. He got better at letting this kind of thing go, at least when their communications are at risk of being spied on. They are both on file as citizens to be watched closely, for “risks of dissidence”, and venting their frustration and anger isn’t worth the risk of a trip to the Reformatory. 

“Partly.” 

Naruto pauses, reluctant to go on but aware that he would be best to get this over with as quickly as possible. He takes a deep breath. 

“The old man couldn’t afford the surgery. You know he spends it all on Bliss, he was too drugged out to visit the kid at the hospital. Konohamaru has been eating dinner with us like, four times a week, and we even pack a bento for him now...” 

“Naruto.” 

“Yeah, so it‘s... they wouldn’t operate without the money being wired first and... Our pays were delayed because of the incident, and most of our emergency funds went to the repairs on Sakura’s arm last month. We didn’t have time to collect the fund around.” 

“Naruto!” 

“I traded my ticket.” 

Naruto waits a little longer than necessary, just in case the silence and stillness are due to the delayed signal or static on the line, and not Sasuke’s complete bafflement. 

“It was so expensive because we aimed for your graduation ceremony so... I just moved it back a week. I know it‘s not what we agreed on and I know I said I would see you graduate but... I didn’t have a choice, I swear.” 

“You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t.” 

“It‘s only a week! It‘s not a big deal, after...” 

Naruto snaps his mouth shut before he can say it. He is not bitter about Sasuke leaving to Kage, the capital of the quadrant, about him deciding to pursue his study in the master program and it’s three years of intensive course instead of a more spread-out option that would have allowed for breaks and downtimes. Sasuke has his ambition, and he is impatient, restless – there was no other choice for him. 

Even if it meant three more years apart. 

Maybe, just maybe, Naruto felt a little legitimate in his will to make Sasuke waits for him for once, even if just for a week, even if it was stupid and petty because Sasuke didn’t have it any better than Naruto when it came to missing his friends and family. 

“It’s only a week,” he repeated, confident that he could talk Sasuke down from his rising anger. 

But Sasuke didn’t look angry. If anything, he looked... 

“I got my service affectation last week,“ he said blankly, face unreadable. Naruto startled at the abrupt change of subject. 

“Oh, cool. So, huh, what is it?” 

“I was assigned to one of the long-time exploration missions. Five years on a scientific ship.” 

“Really? That’s... that’s good, right? There will surely be work for me on board. Those have like, hundreds of people in their crew.” 

It was their plan from the start. Sasuke would be due one long-term mission in the military or public sector after he graduated – one of the conditions of his study grant. Naruto didn’t have first rank citizenship so he couldn’t work nor live on Kage, but he could get hired wherever Sasuke was sent to for his compulsory service. They could be together again, until Sasuke was free to go back to their home planet of Leaf and they could start to work for some real changes in their miserable world. 

“The mission is already being delayed because they are waiting for our class to graduate.” 

“So? It’s not...” 

“We will leave immediately.” 

The pause is longer this time, as Naruto waits, confused, for Sasuke to elaborate. He doesn’t. 

“How immediately?” 

“The same day.” 

Now that what this could mean dawns on both of them, now comes Sasuke’s anger. He shakes his head in disbelief. 

“I asked if there would be open positions for mechanicals on board and they said yes. They even offered to pay for one trip if need be, but I told them you... You already had your ticket. And you... Damn you, Naruto, you didn’t go to the office, right? You traded it at Tsunade’s parlor.” 

“They... they wouldn‘t have refunded it at the office.” 

“And so you still have the place to your name on the first shuttle. We can’t buy it again.” 

Naruto would prefer the exploding anger, the one Sasuke directed to the militia during protests, to politicians during speeches. Better at any rate than the coldness of his tone, the sheer disappointment. 

“I’ll talk to Tsunade. I’m sure...” 

“What? You’ll gather the money again? How?” 

The shuttle was full to the brim with all the families dying to make the trip to see their long-departed children finally be free of the clutches of the University. If there were still tickets to be bought on the black market, the price would be astronomical. The money Tsunade was willing to pay for his was telling enough. 

“Why couldn’t you... For once, why couldn’t you let it go? Why couldn’t be freaking selfish just this time!” 

Naruto recoils at the violence in his tone. Sasuke does too, after a moment, he runs a hand on his face, takes a deep breath. 

It’s an argument they had before. Naruto was always drawn to Sasuke’s passion despite its risk, Sasuke, to Naruto’s warmth and kindness in their cold, bleak world. But both caused them a lot of trouble too. “Can’t you let it go”, they often asked. Knowing the answer would always be no. 

“There was no other way, Sasuke, I’m...” 

“I know.” 

He seems to resent the fact just now. 

“...Maybe I can board on your ship later?” 

“There won’t be any stop before we’re out of the quadrant. It’s long-term exploration. We won’t go back to an outpost for the five years it‘s supposed to last.” 

“Supposed? It could be...” 

“Could be prolonged. Twice that.” 

“They can’t keep you in service for ten years!” 

“They can. I’m on file Naruto, and they still let me study here. They can do what they please.” 

This is a nightmare. 

“I’ll talk to Tsunade,” Naruto says again. “I’ll figure it out, you’ll see.” 

Sasuke doesn’t say anything, but his face is telling enough. Inter-planet travel is so complicated for people like them with no resources nor status, the few shuttles out of their outer-border planet slow and awfully pricey, guaranteeing most of them would never be able to leave. The only reason why they could afford Naruto’s ticket was thanks to the University grant, as Sasuke was an outstanding student and thus rewarded with a chance to bring one person in for his graduation. 

That ticket was Naruto’s lifeline, sometimes the only thing that made him get up in the morning. But without a leg, Konohamaru’s life was over. There was no future down here for those who couldn’t work at the factories. The number of workers who committed suicide after being maimed by the heavy machinery, once it was certain they would never work again... There was no time, no other option. 

It was only a week. 

“I’ll figure it out.” 

“...I’ll ask too,” Sasuke concedes, though he sounds defeated, resigned, and it’s all Naruto’s fault. They cut short soon after, both because there is nothing more to say and because it will cost them a lot if they go beyond their limited data. The call leaves a bitter taste in Naruto‘s mouth, but it can’t end that way, it just can’t. He’ll figure it out. He has too. 

. 

“Naruto?” 

Sakura waits for his cue so that she can enter his room, but after a while it’s obvious he didn’t hear her at all. She goes to sit down on his mattress by his side and bump their shoulder lightly, startling him out of his thoughts. 

“I called you,” she explains to his puzzled face. “You didn’t notice.” 

“Sorry. I was... yeah.” 

He doesn’t need to explain. Ever since that conversation with Sasuke, he has been increasingly moody and preoccupied, which is especially unsettling coming from him. Naruto was always the strongest of them by sheer force of will, the one that lifted them from the ground when it was all just too much. But now he is the one down, and there is nothing any of them can do to help. 

Tsunade named her price. There is a chance they will be able to gather the sum by the time the shuttle leaves, fifteen months from now. But there is no guarantee. The price will likely go up until then, and it would only take one mishap, one incident like with Konohamaru, for it all to go down the drain. 

For Naruto and Sasuke to miss each other. 

She knows they don’t call much these days. Naruto feels too guilty to face him. She is not sure how mad Sasuke actually is – after all, he knows what Naruto is like. He always knew. But this is a hard blow. Three years was supposed to be the limit of how long they would stay apart, when Sasuke made the decision to push until he got his master's degree. But if Naruto can’t make it to Kage... 

Even they won’t hold on another five years. Or, Sage forbids, another ten. 

But this is what life is like, for people like them. They don’t have a choice, they have so little power, even over their own life. 

“What are you thinking?” she asks gently. He is always ready to help out anyone and everyone, deserving or not, but is unable to ask the same for himself. She has been trying to get him to open up for days, to no avail. 

As expected, he doesn’t answer. But he hands her his comm. It takes her a moment to recognize the page opened on the grainy screen, the schedule and hours on display and... 

She gasps. 

“You’re not serious.” 

“Believe me, I am.” 

“That’s not... It‘s not the way, Naruto. We still have time. We can make it.” 

“You don’t know that! Sure, maybe we can. Six months from now maybe this will have been just a minor hitch, maybe I’ll have my ticket back and all will be fine. But if we don’t... It will be too late, do you get it? In just a few weeks I will be out of option.” 

“This is no option!” 

“It is. There is a departure the day after tomorrow. I’ll be right on time.” 

She can’t believe he is serious about this. But then again, she can. 

“Sasuke will be furious.” 

“It won’t matter once I’m gone.” 

“Will you hide this from him?” 

“I... he will be furious.” 

She wonders if they regret it sometimes. What they have. She can’t remember a time where they weren’t everything to each other. How old were they when they met, ten maybe? This kind of bond wasn’t so uncommon in their lives – it was the only ones that could weather the harshness of this world. But still. It had caused them much anguish too, and this... 

“It can’t end this way.” 

He takes the comm back, playing idly with the buttons. She stays silent, hoping it will prompt him into talking a little more about what his going on in that full head of his. 

“Maybe he won’t forgive me. Maybe it’s already over, but... The last time we saw each other, it was with the guarantee we would meet again. I can’t let that go. I can’t never see him again. Even if it’s pointless even if... I have to try.” 

Is he thinking about his parents, who thought it would be best to leave their son planet-side while they went out on a reconnaissance mission, only for their ship to get caught into a stasis? They aged and died in there, a hundred years for them and a mere two months for the rest of the quadrant. Naruto was four. 

Or is this about Temari, who was too angry at Gaara to see him off when he left for the monastery? She couldn’t have known they would enforce a travel ban to his planet right after, but that doesn’t ease the regrets, the guilt. Four years later, the monastery is still off-limit – as it stood, they will never see him again. 

Or maybe it is just about how Naruto would never be able to let go of this love, not for anything. 

“Do you need anything?” she asks at last. To show him that she accepts, she understands, even if she wishes he wasn’t so stubborn, so determined. She wonders if she would do the same for Ino, or Ino for her. She doesn’t think so, and she believes it’s a good thing. 

“Will you look after Konohamaru for me? He’ll blame himself, I’m sure.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“And will you...” 

He presses his lips together, as he does when he is not sure he should say what he is about to say. She doesn’t need to pry – he usually ends up saying it anyway. 

“Will you forgive me? For leaving like this?” 

So few of them got to leave this stupid rock lost in space, got a shot at a better future. Sasuke was the exception of all exceptions, brilliant enough, cunning enough, with a family just above the average enough that he was able to enter and pass the public exam. And their love strong and steady enough that Naruto could earn from it too. 

If he made it there in time. 

“I’m happy for you both, Naruto.” 

Where would they end up if they started being envious of each other? Luck is so scarce around here, it is to be celebrated, no matter who it strikes. Even if this particular luck, Sakura isn’t sure it should even be called that. 

“You’ll be alright there?” 

“It’s only fourteen months.” 

There is nothing “only” about it, but his decision is made. 

. 

The sound of the zipper is loud in the empty room, meaningful somehow. 

Or maybe Sasuke is just that depressed. 

He finished packing all his meager belongings - he spent eight years in this dorm and everything worth keeping from all that time fits into a medium-sized suitcase and his schoolbag. He has very few clothes. He wore the University uniform ever since he set foot on Kage, and he will wear the officer's uniform from now on, until he is finally done with his service. 

Although he doesn’t look forward to this as much as he used to. 

The ceremony will be held soon. Then he will give his school uniform back, and maybe he will use the few hours he has before his departure to wander around in casual wear. He doesn’t know why it feels like such a big deal suddenly, what he wears. 

Maybe because his clothes are the only things he has left that come from Leaf. Those he bought three years ago, the last time he was allowed to visit his home planet. He couldn’t afford a thing that was sold on Kage, and he had outgrown everything he had brought with him the first time, at fourteen. 

They went to the market, with Naruto. They tried silly things, bargained prices for hours with the vendors, as was customary. He chose all the things Naruto liked best. 

Not that it matters now, as the boy won’t be here to see him in them. Not today. 

Not ever. 

They haven’t talked in weeks, and only barely in the months before that. At first, Sasuke was the one to avoid it. He was angry and scared, panicked at the idea that they would truly miss each other, that he would leave for his service without Naruto on board, another five years apart. But then, he reasoned that there had to be a solution to this, and that Naruto would find it, because he was like that. 

But Naruto didn’t. 

He didn’t even mention it. His calls were short, he looked hurried like he was afraid to get caught. Doing what? With whom? 

Sasuke didn’t dare ask. He was never the brave one. He waited anxiously for Naruto to call it all off, to say it wasn’t worth the wait anymore, but Naruto kept pushing it and Sasuke didn’t know what to think anymore. 

He would never be the one to break things off for good. Neither time nor distance mattered to him. He would wait another five years, another ten. In fact, he would wait forever, a lifetime, even if they were never to see each other again. He would keep these feelings in his heart, even if they weren’t returned anymore. It couldn’t be anything different, for him. 

Still, he wishes Naruto would have said something. It is out of character for him to beat around the bush, to leave things unsaid. Sasuke isn’t sure how well they will be able to communicate once he boards the exploration mission. 

He doesn’t even know if Naruto is okay. Sakura has been just as skittish, dodging his questions and worries. She assures him he is fine, but she looks sad when she says it. 

Sasuke didn’t ask. Didn‘t dare. He isn‘t the brave one. 

He hears movement outside, the other students going out and closing their dorm room for the last time. He grabs his things and does the same, without one look back. 

. 

Sasuke goes with the motion, gets in line and waits for his name to be called. There is no one here he will miss – he can’t say he made any friend. He sort of sympathized with a few scholarship students who were, like him, from the outer border, because no one else would ever attempt to befriend them, or talk to them for that matter. They will all go back to their respective planet and never see each other again. 

“Uchiha Sasuke.” 

It is truly an accomplishment to be standing here. To have managed to go this far despite everything, despite his background and the sheer contempt he got from everyone he met here. Every teacher, every student, every administrator. But he can’t bring himself to feel the pride he should have, when he thinks of all that is cost him, of how useless it is if he can’t get his reward in the end, if he has to be alone, if... 

He spots Naruto in the crowd. 

For a moment he is sure he is hallucinating. The head of the graduate program hands him his diploma, says something about overcoming his shameful origin, and Sasuke forgets to be offended. It doesn’t register at all, he doesn’t even look at the paper in his hand. He can’t move his eyes from Naruto’s blond hair, so out of place in a sea of covered heads because such is the proper fashion here. He narrowly remembers the appropriate bow to show his gratitude before he stumbles down the stage. He still has to suffer the rest of the handover before he can wander the room – it feels longer than the three years since they saw each other in person. 

Finally, finally, the pompous talks come to an end and everyone is clapping and cheering – Sasuke runs, profoundly uncaring about his fellow students, about anything that isn’t Naruto’s eyes looking for his in the crowd. 

He runs, but he stops a good meter away from the other boy, his brain catching up on the situation. 

“What are you doing here?” he asks, because what. How. How? 

“I... said I’d come to your graduation.” 

“No but... Come on, Naruto! How did you...” 

He feels a little hysterical – he is going to cry soon. He needs an explanation, he needs to understand, otherwise this might as well be fake, he might just be going crazy, at last. 

“You didn’t board the shuttle. I checked.” 

“No.” 

“Not the first one, not the second either. Not any of the ones that left in the past month.” 

“No.” 

“You didn’t get any pass for the quantic transport either.” 

“You checked it all?” 

Naruto has the nerve to look pleased by that, but his smile vanishes at Sasuke’s frown. Though he might have indeed checked obsessively every possible route for Naruto‘s name in the passengers' log. The main shuttle makes the trip in a month, but there are other options. None they could afford, but he checked anyway. 

“Then how?” 

“Please don’t be mad.” 

Sasuke sucks in a breath, suddenly worried. He heard that before. 

“Tell me.” 

“How far did you check?” 

“The last two months.” 

“Ah. Well. I left... before that.” 

Now that’s weird, because the slowest shuttle takes a month and a half to go from Leaf to Kage, and Naruto wouldn’t have just waited around for weeks without coming to Sasuke for the sake of the surprise. He wouldn’t have found a place to stay anyway. 

There is no other way to make the trip, besides... 

“No.” 

“Ah. Yes?” 

“You didn’t.” 

Naruto has the good taste to look sheepish, though he doesn’t regret it, Sasuke is sure, because he is the stupidest idiot of all time. 

“I did.” 

Sasuke starts to cry then. 

He really can’t help it, and no one can blame him. It’s just too much. The signs are there, now that Sasuke knows to look for them – Naruto's skin is paler, he put in some muscle. His hands are scarred, burnt marks no doubt. It’s too much. 

They didn’t cross the distance before, but Naruto only has one response to Sasuke crying – he steps forward to wrap his arms around him, and Sasuke abandons any semblance of dignity and pride to sink in his embrace and cry to his heart’s content because for months now he was so sure that Naruto had just given up on them, and all this time, he was... 

“You mined your way here, didn’t you?” 

“I said I’d come. I promised.” 

There is one other way to leave their planet, technically. But no one boards the cargo ship willingly. It takes them more than a year to go from the Outer Border to the capital, and it doesn’t take passengers – the only ones on board are the operating crew, and the miners chipping away the crystals used for combustion in the engines. The crystals grow relentlessly and can take over the ship if not managed properly, so they chip at it, day after day. It’s where most prisoners end up in their world. No one would be crazy enough to board a cargo ship and become a miner willingly, to inflict fifteen months of this upon themselves. 

This is too much, too much. 

He assesses the changes a little more closely, but it’s hard to think about it, Naruto trapped in the cargo hold for months and months, mining the crystals away for long, exhausting shifts, without even knowing for sure if he would arrive in time, if Sasuke would still be waiting. He understands now why it was so hard to get a hold of the boy, why Sakura was so vague about his whereabouts. He cannot believe she let Naruto do this. But then again, could she have stopped him? If he had made his mind... 

Sasuke tightens his grip, tries to wrap his mind around the fact that Naruto is truly here, he did find a way to cross half of the quadrant, it took him more than a year and he did it because he said he would and he is here, he still came, he is still... 

“I love you,” Sasuke says, a little rushed, a little desperate, anxious suddenly that Naruto could doubt it. Judging by the way his breath hitches, he did. “Damn you, Naruto, I love you so much.” 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think... I couldn’t risk missing you, I had to...” 

“You’re crazy. I would have waited.” 

Naruto stands back at that, so that they can look at each other They must paint a strange picture, crying in the middle of the reception hall, Naruto in his worker's clothes, so out of place and exactly where he should be. 

“We did enough of that. The waiting. It was gonna be a year anyway, you know, so I figured... I might as well try to get to you in the meantime.” 

He says that as if it was that simple, as if anyone would sacrifice a whole year of their life just for the chance to reach someone in time. Maybe it’s not so surprising though. Sasuke would have waited forever. And Naruto, Naruto would have walked toward him forever too. 

“You’re the worst,” Sasuke says, and he hugs him again, kisses his lips and his face until he knows for sure that they get to have this, after all. 

They don’t have that much time. They need to go to the port, they will be leaving soon. But it doesn’t matter when, or where, or how long. It’s funny how little it matters. 

They made it through. The distance is crossed, the stars are conquered. 

They won’t have to let go. Not now. Not ever. 

**Author's Note:**

> And it turns into a Star Trek AU. Though this world sucks a little too much to be Star Trek... I can't help giving a shitty helpless vibe to all my SF settings lol. Tell me what you think, and check out the [naruto scifi week tumblr](https://naruto-scifi-week.tumblr.com/) for more entries! Mine are [here](https://inrainprose.tumblr.com/tagged/naruto-scifi-week).


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